Yvain, this is an interesting model, but, as you mention yourself, maybe it explains a bit too much. Do you have some testable prediction based on this?
One difficulty may be to distinguish (1) seeking status and (2) seeking a state of affairs that allows you to believe you have status… These two things have substantial overlap, which makes it hard to study them independently. They are not the same though; a good example of something that is only (2) but not (1) would help.
Trolling might be a junkfood equivalent of seeking status.
Does real status have to include material rewards, or is just making other people feel bad enough?
Actually, that could explain the junkfood nature of trolling. In most of human experience, being able to hurt people without risk of retaliation is proof of status.
Status is just power over people. When you illicit a reaction from someone, it’s proof that you have some power over them—whether the person does or does not retaliate. Only when they are indifferent to your attacks is it proof you don’t have power over them.
That’s an interesting way to look at it, but aren’t trolls usually
(semi-)anonymous? It’s hard to gain status that way. People with highly
controversial opinions that aren’t anonymous usually consider themselves to be
contrarians rather than trolls,or?
Using the Wikipedia definition of (social) status:
the honor or prestige
attached to one’s position in society (one’s social position).
I think we’d need a different word for the thing trolls and other pyromaniacs are seeking.
(edit: s/Wiki/Wikipedia/, small clarification in third line)
I could see using “wiki definition” (without the capital “W”) to mean a definition with too many anonymous authors to be useful. But djcb evidently didn’t mean it that way.
ISTM that people feel “freedom from retribution” on a visceral level, but not the “pseudonymous status doesn’t count” concept. It’s outside the scope of the ancestral environment, so we shouldn’t expect our emotions to be fully coherent here.
Yvain, this is an interesting model, but, as you mention yourself, maybe it explains a bit too much. Do you have some testable prediction based on this?
One difficulty may be to distinguish (1) seeking status and (2) seeking a state of affairs that allows you to believe you have status… These two things have substantial overlap, which makes it hard to study them independently. They are not the same though; a good example of something that is only (2) but not (1) would help.
Trolling might be a junkfood equivalent of seeking status.
Does real status have to include material rewards, or is just making other people feel bad enough?
Actually, that could explain the junkfood nature of trolling. In most of human experience, being able to hurt people without risk of retaliation is proof of status.
Status is just power over people. When you illicit a reaction from someone, it’s proof that you have some power over them—whether the person does or does not retaliate. Only when they are indifferent to your attacks is it proof you don’t have power over them.
That’s an interesting way to look at it, but aren’t trolls usually (semi-)anonymous? It’s hard to gain status that way. People with highly controversial opinions that aren’t anonymous usually consider themselves to be contrarians rather than trolls,or?
Using the Wikipedia definition of (social) status:
I think we’d need a different word for the thing trolls and other pyromaniacs are seeking.
(edit: s/Wiki/Wikipedia/, small clarification in third line)
We could call them “lulz”.
Anyway, I don’t know why trolling is fun, but it is.
Wikipedia has that definition. “Wiki” is a category of software, and does not. Please don’t confuse the two.
I think I disagree with your rebuke. I see “Wiki definition” as similar to Stephen Colbert’s wikiality concept.
I could see using “wiki definition” (without the capital “W”) to mean a definition with too many anonymous authors to be useful. But djcb evidently didn’t mean it that way.
ISTM that people feel “freedom from retribution” on a visceral level, but not the “pseudonymous status doesn’t count” concept. It’s outside the scope of the ancestral environment, so we shouldn’t expect our emotions to be fully coherent here.